At least 16 people, including three children and four women, died when a passenger vehicle skidded off the hilly link road in Doda district on Tuesday.
According to official sources, the ill fated passenger vehicle was on its way to Marmat from Doda when the accident occurred at Khellani around 2.45 p.m SSP, Doda, Mumtaz Ahmad told reporters, “the vehicle with 17 passengers on board rolled 500 feet down on main Batote-Doda highway from a link road around 2.45 pm”. He said, “16 passengers including driver died in the accident”.
Lone survivor was referred to the Government medical college and hospital in Jammu for specialised treatment.
Earlier on July 1, a minibus carrying 52 passengers against seating capacity of 28 plunged into a gorge at Keshwan in adjoining Kishtwar district killing 35 passengers and leaving 17 others injured.
Local officers claimed “ often overloading, absence of crash barriers, bad roads and inadequate buses/rickety fleet account for frequent road accidents in hilly Doda region.
